Slayers WILD - Chaotic Chances
by RanmaRS
Summary: Chances. How much can chances affect one's life? In Ranma's chaotic life... quite a bit. A chance reading of a comic book, a chance encounter with a magical being, a chance transportation to another realm, a chance meeting with the power sorceress Lina.


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Slayers WILD - Chaotic Chances  
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Written by Merc-for-Hire and RanmaRS  
  
  
  
Contact RanmaRS at ranmars@ranmamail.com   
Contact Merc at mercforhire@ranmamail.com  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!"  
  
"SHI SHI HOKADAN!!!"  
  
Two blasts of powerful ki were fired at the same time, each infused  
with the respective emotion from which they drew power from their  
masters. As the two balls made contact which each other, they exploded  
in a flashy display of power. Bits of earth and concrete were torn  
upwards from the ground and flung outwards, impacting against the  
bodies of the two adolescent men who fired the blasts as they breathed  
deeply and heavily while they recovered from the exertion of firing  
those self-same blasts. Each stared at the other in a contest of will,  
waiting to see who would recover from the strain first and launch the  
next series of attacks.  
  
It wasn't a long wait either, maybe a few seconds at most, before they  
both launched another wave of attacks at each other. Neither desired to  
find himself defeated by the other, and constant training had pushed  
each to their limits and beyond so they were capable of maintaining  
this sort of lengthy and damaging battle for long periods. They were  
two prodigies of the martial arts and possibly the best fighters of  
their generation.  
  
To say that their battles could be spectacular was no understatement.  
As they traded punches and kicks against the other, in a dizzying array  
of skill, one particular member of the audience these two had found  
gathered behind them drooled with worship for these two. This child  
superimposed in his mind the image of two others battling to defeat the  
other much like these two. Their petty arguments were tuned out from  
the boy, for he saw in them not the martial artists they were, but the  
two super-powered beings he loved more than anything. If he heard  
anything at all besides the attacks names as they were shouted, he  
heard echoes of the voices of these two beings he imagined them to be  
like. Yes, these were what Saiyajins were supposed to be like. The  
fighting was... well it was simply one of the greatest things this  
young otaku had seen in his entire life. This wasn't like TV, were you  
could only watch. Here, he could -feel- their power, the tense  
atmosphere, and the sound... not even the TV could capture a fight  
quite as well. Then again, only in TV had he seen battles of similar  
scope. These guys were, for lack of a better term, kick-ass awesome.  
  
'Wow...' was his only thought as he pushed others away to get a closer  
view of the two. Reaching the very front of the crowd, he enjoyed the  
rest of the battle in amazement as the two traded attacks over and  
over, occasionally mixing in a special attack or even those ki attacks  
he'd seen. But finally, like all battles even this one had to end. It  
was the one thing he hated more than anything in the world. Not even  
the wonderful battles of Dragon Ball Z lasted forever and neither did  
this one. The sheer length of both the battles was somewhat pleasing at  
least for him. As the crowd dispersed while the victor stood grinning  
stupidly over his fallen foe, radiating the thought "I am the best!"  
all around, the boy walked to the young man and asked the question he'd  
been dying to ask all throughout the battle.  
  
"Are you a Saiyajin?"  
  
***  
  
"Damn it pops! Don't be such an idiot! How the hell did you come up  
with such a ridiculous idea anyway?" Ranma snapped at the panda before  
smacking it in its meaty paw.  
  
"That smart boy we met yesterday," the sign of the panda stated before  
he begun swinging it wildly attempting to hit the boy. "He stated how  
powerful those Saiyajins were supposed to be. Don't you want to be that  
powerful a martial artist?"  
  
"Are you daft, pops? I've seen that series before and all they do is  
toss around ki blasts episode after episode! Those aren't martial  
artists, dammit!" Ranma said as he batted away the sign the panda had  
just thrown at him before ducking at the swung sign at him, before  
jabbing his finger into the ground and yelling, "Bakutsai Tenketsu!"  
resulting in a shower of rocks spraying the panda.  
  
The panda's eyes widened as it furiously tried to dodge all the sprayed  
pieces of earth and rock before lifting a new sign. "Since when could  
you do *that* boy???"  
  
Ranma stopped in his attack and grinned as he placed his hands behind  
his head. Of course, he stood atop his father, but the panda didn't  
mind. And if he did, well he could suck on it.  
  
"Since last month, pops," he stated matter of factly before his grin  
turned into a scowl. "That's why I'm saying that your idea is a waste  
of time. Time I spend at the store I could be using to train seriously.  
If I didn't train seriously, how'd you think I could have learned the  
Umi-sen-ken quickly enough so I could beat Kumon? The same goes for  
Ryouga and all the other guys who keep attacking me. If I don't train  
seriously, I'd be overwhelmed by those idiots!"  
  
Smacking his paw at the insolent boy, the large animal raised a new  
board for Ranma to see as he jumped of its head and read the newest  
message of his pops. "This *is* serious training, boy! A martial artist  
is capable of turning anything into training, isn't he? Haven't I  
taught you that well enough by now?"  
  
"U-huh, yeah sure, whatever you say pops," Ranma stated as he moved to  
the dining hall were breakfast was being served. That was one of the  
greatest things about being a martial artist. The enhanced senses,  
including the sense of smell. It was doubly made better when what you  
smelled was Kasumi's cooking. He soon continued talking, this time  
between mouthfuls. "Well I'm eating some real food right now. You can  
continue to feed me your line of bull afterwards if I'm still hungry."  
  
"BOY!!! Show more respect for your father!" The panda stated in one of  
its board signs in one paw even as he winced and shook his other paw.  
  
Turning around to face Kasumi, he turned the board around so the  
message on the back was now shown. "Would you be so kind as to bring  
this poor panda some hot water? I need to teach the boy to respect his  
father!"  
  
Kasumi said her usual polite, "Of course Mr. Saotome," before heading  
back into the kitchen.  
  
Ranma, who had managed to see the last sign, snorted, "Respect? For  
you? That'll be the day, old man!"  
  
The panda growled in a low boy before hitting Ranma on the head with  
the sign, eliciting a loud "OUCH!!!" from the boy before he lifted the  
sign again, now strangely enough, sporting a different message. "Dammit  
boy! Why must you be so ungrateful! And after all I've done for you!"  
  
Ranma rubbed his head much like the panda had at one point been rubbing  
it's paws, while muttering low enough that no one heard, "Yeah... I  
*so* appreciate the c-c-ccat fist, the numerous fiancees, and all the  
other crap you're responsible for."  
  
The panda fumed, eating it's own food as it waited for Kasumi to arrive  
with some hot water from the kitchen. Seeing that the panda was  
ignoring him now in preference for his food, much like the Tendos,  
Ranma smiled and went back to eat his own food.  
  
"Here you go, Mr. Saotome," Kasumi's soft, gentle voice rang from  
behind the panda, almost startling it as she arrived with a cup of hot  
water soon enough. Smiling once the panda calmed down and reached for  
the cup, she sat down and began to finally eat her own lunch. While she  
began to eat, the panda went and flipped the cup of hot water upside  
down on it's head, causing the short fur hair to grow even smaller  
until it disappeared, facial features to flow around, and wooden signs  
to vanish.  
  
Now capable of speech, Genma went back to bothering his son, especially  
seeing as how he'd finished his meal by now. "So boy, why is it that  
you think it's such a foolish idea? Why it's..."  
  
Genma stopped for a second as a devious thought occurred to him. He was  
thankful he'd trained into his son buttons that were so very easy to  
push. "Why it's almost like you were -afraid- or something..."  
  
It didn't matter that it made no sense. It didn't matter it didn't have  
anything to do with the situation. It was the standard 'get Ranma to do  
what I want' trick. And everyone who knew this just sighed; knowing  
Ranma was about to fall for it anyway. Genma had just "insulted"  
Ranma's bravery, and thus indirectly for him, his manhood, and Ranma  
wouldn't stand for it. This was just the sort of line of bull that  
Ranma would and did fall for, almost every single time. Strange, but  
that was Ranma for you.  
  
"I'll show you old man! I'll show you afraid!" Ranma shouted as he  
launched himself out of the room and out the door leaving a grinning  
Genma behind.  
  
Akane watched as Ranma once more fell for one of Genma's stupid trick.  
"Ba..."  
  
***  
  
"...ka, baka, BAKA!!!" Ranma was repeating as he banged his head  
against the outer wall of the dojo. He didn't know whom to curse more,  
his father, himself, or the kid that got him into this mess by somehow  
giving his pops his latest hair-brained idea.  
  
"Why don't you try to learn those attacks the kid was talking about?  
Why don't you see what you can learn? A true martial artist can turn  
anything into an advantage..." Ranma continued muttering, repeating  
earlier words muttered by the old man during their morning spar.  
"Right, what an idea. Stupid kid had to go and describe how powerful  
those Saiyajin guys were supposed to be and pops went and drooled about  
the idea of having a super son. As if I wasn't that good already...  
Stupid pops."  
  
Giving one final bang against the wall, he muttered, "And stupid me for  
falling for his 'are you scared?' line again..."  
  
Sighing, Ranma resolved to go to an anime store and hope to get  
something out of the experience. For all importantly purposes, he had  
committed himself now to going through with the idea. He'd probably  
just end up making some move on his own and call it a move from a manga  
just to get out of this. But he'd still have to go to the store.  
Putting his hands in his pockets he sighed as he began to walk towards  
downtown to look for an anime store...  
  
***  
  
Ranma snorted, as he looked over the manga and anime available in the  
store. The old man was full of hot air if he really thought that Ranma  
could learn some new martial arts from looking at manga and anime.  
Ranma would definitely have to lie his way through this like he'd  
planned, at least until the old man forgot about his latest boneheaded  
training and went back to *ugh* matching him up with the tomboy.  
  
So what was he gonna do in the meantime? No way was he looking at the  
anime. That was a little too far out of his budget, especially  
considering his somewhat lacking money in his wallet. Sure, he had  
-some- money, but not all that much. Let's see... Ghost in the Shell?  
Too uhm...techno crap. Can't really do a version of that stuff. Dragon  
Ball Z? Nah, that's what got him into this mess and most of the  
techniques where useless to him. They lacked finesse. And they were all  
just big ki blasts to him, all the same, just with new names. No actual  
skill, just lots of power, something which he didn't really have, he  
admitted to himself. Still, changing a ki blast's color or form wasn't  
all that hard so he could just do that in a pinch, but he wanted  
something more his style. Fatal Fury? Hmmm... well they actually looked  
interesting and the moves were a lot more realistic.  
  
Ranma picked up a specific copy and giving it a quick look over,  
decided to buy it. Standing in line for the counters, he looked at the  
techniques. A funny thought occurred to Ranma as he thought of how to,  
heh, "learn" the technique, the Power Geyser. Heh, if he used the Power  
Geyser on pig-boy, Ryouga would probably think that he stole his  
signature move, the Bakusai Tenketsu, and had mixed it with a Mouko  
Takabi... Hmm... actually that'd be an interesting variant to try out  
to emulate the technique...  
  
Thinking on the subject, he paid for his manga at one of the counters  
once it cleared. Of course, that's when one of his daily attackers  
decided to show up. And of all the luck guess who it was?  
  
"Damn you Ranma! How dare you leave me unconscious on the street  
before? Prepare to die!"  
  
Yup. Ryouga. Oh well, might as well try the trick he just came up with.  
The manga shop owner gave Ranma a dirty look as he cracked his  
knuckles. Hmmmm... maybe he'd better do it outside. He didn't really  
want to anger the shop owner. They didn't really enjoy having people  
fight inside their stores and tended to hold a grudge. Ranma couldn't  
recall the number of times some store owner decided to leave him out in  
the street when it looked like it would rain just because he'd messed  
up his store up in one of his fights, but it was damn annoying.  
  
Ranma rushed out of the store and skipping over both the rushing  
umbrella and hard head, came to stop behind Ryouga as the lost boy  
stumbled from Ranma's move. Ryouga rushed back at Ranma as soon as he  
recovered. Ranma led him closer to the center of the street before  
glowing blue with his confidence.  
  
"POWER GEYSER!!!" Ranma shouted as he struck his fist downward into the  
ground and released a relatively small burst of confidence charged ki  
he'd build up and hit one of the street's breaking points. He made sure  
not to release too much ki. He was still figuring out the move and  
didn't want it to explode in his fac...  
  
*BOOM!!!* went that spot in the street as an explosive blast sprang  
upwards in front of Ranma and pushed both him and debris at it's edges  
upwards and backwards. Ryouga just stood his ground passively as there  
hadn't been enough strength in the blast to push him outwards as well.  
Instead, Ryouga just stared dumbly and unblinking as Ranma blew himself  
up, and it wasn't until he came down in a heap, that Ryouga blinked  
once more. A small twisting appeared at the edge of his mouth as Ranma  
coughed and looked a little smoked before it turned into full-blown  
laughter.  
  
"What the hell was that? Power Geyser? Ha! What kind of a move hits  
yourself???" Ryouga mocked Ranma as he continued to laugh. He was  
enjoying himself enough that he wasn't bothered by Ranma's apparent use  
of a technique he deemed his.  
  
Ranma growled in frustration. That had hurt. It was supposed to hurt,  
but dammit, it hit the wrong person. He knew he could do it and no  
little setback was gonna stop him. And no way was he gonna let pig-boy  
get away with mocking him. Wiping his face clean, he quickly analyzed  
in his head what he'd done and soon began smirking. One time he'd  
gotten it wrong, but no way would it happen again. He was much more  
confident that'd he'd get it right this time. Ranma gathered his ki  
once more, and this time with a bit more power just to wipe that smirk  
off Ryouga's face, and striking his fist into the ground once more,  
released a bigger charge of confidence ki once more into a breaking  
point of the street, this time at a deeper angle and in a thinner  
concentration. And this time, things went differently.  
  
Ranma blinked as a series of rock blasts went from him to Ryouga  
carrying a payload of confident ki, the debris and ki combining in a  
whirling pool of power rising upwards the farther it traveled, before  
hitting it's target and exploded on contact.  
  
Ryouga groaned in the ground twitching ever slightly.  
  
That was... a lot more powerful than he'd thought it be. Must be  
because of the extra power it seemed to gather into itself as it  
traveled along it's destructive path. He didn't really know how he'd  
managed to get it to tap into the ambient energy as it moved further,  
but the tendrils that traveled into the ball, as it pushed forward,  
collecting into the debris, showed that somehow that was what happened.  
He'd figure it out later. In the meantime he only had one thing to say  
about his new move. "Cool!"  
  
Ranma chuckled. 'Thanks pops. If you hadn't gotten me to come, I'd  
never have thought of that variant. In a way, your idiocy helped out  
for once.'  
  
Ranma began to leave after checking that Ryouga was gonna be okay, when  
he remembered the manga he paid for. Turning around and looking into  
the store, he looked for his purchase as he tried to make his way  
through the kids inside standing frozen with their mouths agape. Ranma  
had only gotten as far as the counter he'd purchased his manga at, when  
the kids 'awoke' and began to surround him to ask him questions.  
  
"Ack!" was heard from the surrounded Ranma as he tried to reach through  
the crowd to his bag. He couldn't really see it but the moment he felt  
the paper bag, he began to bolt out of the store. Using his skills, he  
made it out in one piece, leaving a group of disappointed fans behind.  
Well, disappointed until they thought to ask the owner either what the  
guy had bought or what the move he used was. Upon being confirmed that  
it seemed to be the Power Geyser move from the series Fatal Fury, the  
kids began to make a mad rush to the stands to look for either manga or  
anime of the series. One happy kid stood at the counter while the  
others made their search, grinning goofily at the copy in his hand that  
he'd pulled out of his paper bag purchase. No, it was not what he'd  
originally bought, but hell if he wasn't happy with his switched copy  
of Fatal Fury.  
  
Of course, Ranma on the other hand was not as pleased once he reached  
into the bag to read his hard earned prize... and found instead a copy  
of Slayers manga. He groaned as he opened the book. Bad enough he lost  
his manga, but for a manga about magic? He -hated- magic...  
  
Ranma sighed and hoped the story was at least entertaining. Sitting on  
the roof of the Tendo Dojo, he opened the manga again and read. Only a  
few minutes later, he found himself laughing. He might not get any  
useful stuff out of it, but it was certainly amusing to see that  
someone else though flatchested tomboys were violent. Jeez, and that  
Lina used fireballs instead of mallets. Heh, maybe he was a bit luckier  
than Lina's companion.  
  
The manga was a bit of an eye-opener in that respect. He figured out  
that the reason flatchested tomboys were violent and aggressive must  
have been because they -were- flatchested tomboys. It's the only thing  
that made sense to him. Heck, the author put that point across enough  
with Lina toasting anybody that called her that.  
  
As he mused on that, albeit strange leap of logic, which explained how  
much of a sore point being pointed out that you were flatchested was,  
he muttered, "No wonder Akane's so pis..."  
  
***  
  
Akane walked into the kitchen humming happily. Tapping her older sister  
on the shoulder, she asked, "Hey Kasumi! Have you started cooking yet?  
If not, can I help?"  
  
Kasumi turned around and smiled at her younger sister. "Sorry Akane,  
but I already started cooking. In fact, lunch is almost done by now  
actually. Maybe tomorrow."  
  
Akane sighed, but kept in her good spirits. After all, Kasumi had said  
she could help out tomorrow. She knew this meant her big sister was  
finally thinking that she might be getting better at cooking, and she  
knew she was. Why, she'd already learned to boil water! Slowly, but  
surely she was getting better at cooking. Soon, that jerk wouldn't be  
able to insult her cooking anymore. Her smile grew wider as she thought  
of how great it'd be to in fact have Ranma one day say, "Akane! You're  
such a great cook. Why this is even better than Kasumi's!"  
  
Yes, she'd pay anything to see that happen someday.  
  
But as the pot bubbled and Kasumi hurried to lower the heat before it  
overflowed, Akane sighed knowing that today wasn't the day it'd happen.  
Oh well, maybe she could help Kasumi out with something else.  
  
"Hey Kasumi, how soon before it's all done? If it's not long now, I'll  
just set the table and gather everyone now."  
  
Kasumi smiled that gentle smile of hers and nodded appreciatively.  
"Thank you Akane. The food should be ready in about ten minutes so it  
would be fine for you to do that now."  
  
Akane smiled widely herself. She enjoyed being helpful in some way.  
With a purpose for the moment, she set out to set the table. Three  
minutes later, she admired her handiwork, as the plates and glasses  
stood in perfect formation around the table, glistening with their  
cleanliness. Sure, the cleanliness could be attributed to Kasumi, but  
the final product was her handiwork. Now to get the rest of the people  
and sit them down.  
  
Finding her Dad and Mr. Saotome was easy enough, they were as usual  
sitting by the go table, cheating as often as possible and trying to  
best the other. It wasn't a game of skill or luck to them, it was a  
game of who could cheat the best. Shaking her head, she cleared her  
throat and informed them that lunch was almost ready. Mr. Saotome  
launched himself to the seat, almost drooling in anticipation of the  
food. Her dad took a little longer as he took the time to rearrange the  
board in his favor before gleefully running to the table. Akane rolled  
her eyes as she set out to look for Nabiki now.  
  
Nabiki was as easy to find as the adults. She was in her room as  
expected. Akane couldn't help but giggle in surprise as she saw what  
her sister had in her hands. Nabiki was laying on her bed reading  
shoujo manga!  
  
Nabiki bristled as her sister barged in and giggled at the sight. She  
hadn't had time to hide the manga so now Akane was laughing at her.  
"Damn it Akane, haven't you ever heard of knocking? No wonder you got  
that eyeful of Ranma that first day!" Nabiki said before getting a  
catty smile as she hid the manga away. "Or did you want to see him,  
hmmmm?"  
  
Now it was Akane's turn to bristle. "Hey! I didn't even know he was a  
guy okay? It's that pervert's fault and you know it!"  
  
Nabiki placated her temperamental little sister with a smile. After  
all, her little hobby had been all but forgotten by now if she knew  
Akane. "Of course Akane."  
  
Akane humphed and crossed her arms. "Anyway, I just came up to say that  
the food's almost ready, so you can go and sit down now. I'm going to  
go look for Ranma now."  
  
Briskly turning around and slamming the door behind her, she went off  
to look for Ranma even as Nabiki shook her her head and left her room,  
gently closing the door though, as she went downstairs.  
  
Now Ranma was a lot tougher to find for her. He wasn't in his room, the  
dojo, or already sitting by the table so she figured that if he was in  
the house, he'd be... Akane sighed realizing he'd be at the roof again.  
It always made her cross that she had to go looking for the ladder to  
get up there while he'd just jump up to get there. Another point he'd  
use to accuse her of not being a martial artist. As she got the ladder  
and propped it against the roof, her previously good mood, now  
displaced by Nabiki's comment and her trip down memory lane, became  
more and more cloudy and her smile became a frown. By the time she was  
on the rooftop, she almost felt like smacking Ranma even though he  
hadn't done anything yet. Yet being the operative word.  
  
"...o wonder Akane's so pissy most of the time." she heard Ranma state  
as he stared off into the sky.  
  
Yep, "yet" had definitely been the operative word.  
  
Gathering her trusty mallet in her hands and giving it a good test  
twirl, she stalked up to Ranma from behind. She'd just have to tell  
Kasumi that Ranma had gone off to eat at one of the bimbos'  
restaurants. Who knows? He might actually go and do that. Stupid  
pervert.  
  
***  
  
'Did she really havta hit so hard? So I made a bad comment, it ain't  
like it ain't true anyway... stupid tomboy...dammit, I wish she was  
more like that Lina chick. She may throw fireballs, but overall she  
seems less violent with her friend Gourry. And he seems to get on her  
nerves more than I do with Akane...' Ranma wondered as he crash landed,  
smacking right up against a great big tree's trunk. At least he didn't  
land on wat...  
  
'Water,' he, now she, thought disgustedly as she shook her wet arms. It  
was inevitable that it'd find her, -especially- when she wished  
otherwise. Ranma-chan sighed as she looked up at the shaking leaves of  
the tree she'd smacked. Rather than her landing on water, Ranma-chan  
had water land on her, as her shaking of the tree from her landing had  
caused water caught between the branches by that morning's shower to  
dislodge and land on her.  
  
"Figures..." she muttered as she stared around... and found she had no  
idea where she was. "Well, a new record in violence for Akane. She hit  
me so far off I don't even know where I am now."  
  
"I just want to get home soon and get this day over with," she added to  
her mutterings as she hit the tree in frustration. Of course the tree's  
renewed shaking only got her more wet. Seemed the tree still carried  
some water in its leaves.  
  
Ranma-chan sighed. Looking around, he found himself in a small island  
in the middle of a lake. 'Great, I land on the one dry spot in the  
middle of a lake, and I still get wet.'  
  
Bouncing on some rocks that formed a sort of bridge between the mini-  
island and the shore, Ranma stared around again. 'Hmmm... might get  
some idea of where I am from that shrine.'  
  
One short conversation with the old man there, and Ranma-chan was off  
on her way back to Nerima. Thankfully she wasn't that far off, as this  
was one of the hills surrounding Mt. Terror according to the old man.  
Should only take an hour or two at most to make it back to Nerima. She  
wondered how Akane had managed to hit her so far off, but didn't dwell  
on it much. As Ranma-chan ran off, she didn't notice the curious glance  
the old man gave at her as he rubbed his chin and light flashed through  
his glasses before he turned around and walked back into the shrine.  
  
***  
  
Ranma returned to Nerima soon enough and life went on as normal. His  
pops had already forgotten about his latest harebrained scheme and was  
once again trying to match him up with Akane. Pretty fast, but sort of  
expected after he'd shown his new Power Geyser move. The only thing  
that changed... well only one thing had really come out of the recent  
events. Ranma had liked that Slayers manga, and had found it  
interesting enough that he decided it was worth buying. So whenever he  
had enough money, he'd say he was going on a training trip, and after  
getting the dynamically moronic duo to stop bugging him about taking  
his fiancee along, went off to buy his comic. He'd decided that he  
really should read somewhere else so actually went along with his  
training trip idea and set off somewhere to train and of course, read  
in peace. He'd soon decided on the lake by the shrine he'd landed that  
first time. It was a relaxing place and he'd sort of enjoyed being  
there. So he'd head to that lake, in particular the shade of the great  
big tree in the middle of the lake, which he'd learned was supposed to  
be some sort of holy tree, and read in peace. Training for some time  
after that, he'd say a polite hello to the old man from the shrine and  
then head back home.  
  
On one such day, the old man found himself in the company of a  
scientist friend of his that sometimes visited him. Both were avidly  
watching the young boy as he flowed through a kata in the small area  
around the great tree, using all the small space in the mini-island he  
was on, but never hitting the tree as he flowed along. When he ended  
his kata, he bowed to the tree out of respect and fishing into his  
backpack, dug out a manga which he started to read once he got himself  
comfortable leaning against the tree.  
  
"She seems to like the company of the boy," the old man said.  
  
"Yes, she does..." the young red headed scientist spoke.  
  
Rubbing his chin, the old man thought back to some time ago and said,  
"Hmmm... do you know about the first time the boy ended up here?"  
  
The redhead blinked and simply said that he'd shown up one day and just  
done what he usually did, read and train by the train, and continued to  
do so when nobody stopped him.  
  
"Actually, the first time I met him, he was a girl. He'd supposedly  
crash landed here from somewhere according to her and changed into a  
girl. He left, but after that, he'd started coming to visit and doing  
as you said, reading and training."  
  
The redhead blinked and smiled, "Interesting. Since he's always come as  
a guy, I assume he is one normally?"  
  
The old man nodded, "It could be some curse, or considering his having  
crashed here, he could be another planetary visitor and that is just a  
natural ability. We do seem to get our good share of those."  
  
Nodding, the redhead mentioned, "I'll look into it," before vanishing  
into the room, the shadows seemingly swallowing her up.  
  
"Hmmm...strange. She didn't call him her new g..." the old man started  
to say before a cackle interrupted his spoken thoughts.  
  
"MWAHAHAHA.... what a wonderful new guinea pig!"  
  
'Oh dear...' he thought.  
  
***  
  
"My, you are an interesting person indeed, Ranma Saotome," a voice  
lurking in the shadows muttered.  
  
A chair on wheels rolled forward into the light as a monitor turned on  
in front of it. The chair swiveled around, revealing the redheaded  
scientist staring as a young pigtailed lad read in front of a tree as  
he normally did when in the area.  
  
From the time since she'd told herself that she would look into the  
origins of the boy some weeks ago, she'd found quite a lot about him.  
For one, she'd learned that the so-called sex change was a curse due to  
mutterings he sometimes made. He seemed to talk to himself when he  
thought no one was hearing. Poor boy, must be difficult to think any  
words you say could get you in trouble. His life wasn't all that great,  
but he managed, and though he apparently came here to relax from the  
chaos in his own life, he seemed to enjoy spending time here as much as  
her friend enjoyed his company. She was sure she could cure his curse,  
but did the boy really want that? She couldn't be completely sure, and  
as long as that was the case, wouldn't do anything about it. Though she  
still dabbled on trying to cure the curse. If he ever made a definitive  
claim at getting it cured...  
  
Well her gene splitter might do the job with a few tweaks.  
  
In her mind though, a breakthrough occurred today, as she listened to  
what he said through the monitor as he put down the copy of the manga  
he'd been reading that day.  
  
"Heh, you know, maybe getting those two mangas mixed up wasn't so bad.  
Even though magic has really messed up my life, I kinda enjoy the magic  
shown here. Man, how'd I love to learn some of the stuff they do here.  
Flying for real with a Ray Wing... that alone would make it worthwhile.  
Too bad the only kind of magic that exists is curses and other bad  
stuff like that. If only for a minute, I'd love to be in a world where  
magic was fun," he said, staring into the sky and smiling. Closing the  
manga, he pushed himself upwards and grabbed his backpack. Putting the  
Slayers manga carefully back inside, he began an intricate kata even as  
the scientist grinned and shut the monitor off.  
  
'Heh, well Ranma, you'll get your wish, and in the process help me test  
a new invention!' she thought. Typing diligently, she typed out a set  
of commands as a machine besides her came to life. As she continued  
typing, a satellite like device on the machine began shifting around  
until it finally locked into position. Typing another series of  
commands, she pushed enter and smiled. 'This will be the perfect  
inauguration for the newest version of my dimensional travel portal! It  
was pure genius to combine it with that algorithm to make pocket  
universes after one's own specifications because now, no world is  
impossible to see because if it doesn't exist, this baby can create it!  
And Ranma, you're gonna get a sneak peek at what it can do. Enjoy it  
Saotome. I'll let you have fun there for more than a minute too as  
thanks for trying it out for me. Hmmmm... a week there should be  
enough. And when you get back, it'll be like almost no time passed!'  
  
She continued to smile as a laser like beam shot out of the antennae in  
the center of the satellite device of the machine, hitting the  
pigtailed boy in mid jump in the middle of his kata while a second beam  
smashed into his backpack. A blast of light covered the area, and when  
seeing was once more possible, Ranma was no longer a part of this  
world.  
  
*CRASH!*  
  
Washuu stiffened at the noise, and began to slowly turn around to look  
for the source of the noise while chanting rapidly in her mind, "Please  
don'tletitbeMihoshipleasedon'tletitbeMihoshipleasedon'tletitbeMihoshi..  
."  
  
"HIIIIIIIIII!!!!" Mihoshi greeted cheerily as she lay sprawled on the  
machine she'd just used. A few sparks danced around the machine.  
  
Washuu winced and realized that Ranma would definitely not feel like no  
time at all had happened. And worse, he might be stuck there for more  
than a week with the time differences between this world and the  
created pocket dimension of his manga. Leave it to Mihoshi to mess  
things up like that.  
  
Cracking her knuckles, she set out to punt Mihoshi out of her lab and  
then to fix the machine.  
  
*******  
  
A wave of nausea passed, and Ranma opened his eyes again. 'What the  
heck was that feeling?' he thought as he looked around. As he started  
dropping, he realized that the feeling of weightlessness had not yet  
disappeared. Curious, since he should have landed by now. Looking  
down... he found that perhaps he really didn't want to see down below.  
He was -very- high up in the air, some 50 feet or so and falling fast  
towards a lake below...."Oh Shit!!!!"  
  
Landing on the lake with a loud splash, Ranma sank deep under. For a  
few moments nothing more than some expanding waves and few air bubbles  
marked the place where he had fallen.  
  
A red head burst out from underwater, the person gasping for air...  
"What happened? Brr... Its cold..." Ranma-chan took a few strokes and  
swam to the side of the lake, all the while taking peeks of her  
surroundings, trying to get a bearing on her location.  
  
Meanwhile, just a short distance away in her inn, Luna heard the splash  
at the lake as well as shouts and a string of curses that flew through  
her ear.  
  
'What the?' she thought as she went out to investigate. What she saw  
shocked her. A girl was waddling to shore that looked like, 'Lina? No..  
not her but she sure looked like Lina at first glance.'  
  
Luna snickered as she walked closer to the girl. 'Just with a lot  
better build of course. Wouldn't Lina kill to have a figure like  
hers...'  
  
Ranma-chan looked at the girl approaching to her. 'Who is she? and  
where am I and what on earth just happen to me? One minutes I'm going  
through my kata, the next minutes I'm 50 feet in the air?' Ranma  
thought a bit confused.  
  
"Excuse me, but..." Ranma-chan started to say and suddenly muttered in  
a low voice, "I can't believe I'm gonna say this..."  
  
Luna blinked as Ranma-chan continued in a normal tone of voice again,  
"But where on Earth am I now?"  
  
Luna blinked again as she heard her voice. If it wasn't for the fact  
that she was certain Lina could never have a figure like that...  
"Uhmm... We're in Zefilia. My name's Luna Inverse. Who are you?"  
  
Ranma-chan realized she was being rude, and as she put a hand behind  
her head she said with a weak laugh, "Sorry about this, my name's Ranma  
Saotome."  
  
Luna smiled and grabbed Ranma-chan's arm, "Come now. It's got to be  
cold there. You need dry clothes too. Don't want you getting sick,"  
before she began to drag her towards the inn. She didn't want the  
strange girl to go and get sick. It was such a bother to keep using  
cure spells because someone got sick.  
  
Leaving her to stand near the entrance of the inn, Luna commented on  
fetching some dry clothes while she stayed nearby. That said, she left  
and went in.  
  
Ranma saw the nice girl who had helped her go to find some dry clothes  
for her. "Man... who is she... I should thank her later..."  
  
Shivering from the cold, Ranma-chan began rubbing her arms vigorously.  
Trying to distract herself, Ranma-chan began to listen in on a  
conversation inside. Near the entrance there were a group of men  
laughing and drinking at the bar. They were all pretty drunk. And  
staring at Ranma-chan's rescuer as she passed past them.  
  
"I tell yoush...if that Luna babe watent ta Ceipheed Knight, I'd like  
grab her right between ta..." one man said, giving off a pretty lewd  
description for a short while before being smacked with a mug by one of  
his companions.  
  
"Looksh ya fooll...Ter ain't no way, I'm a messting wit tat woman. Not  
even gonna thay someting. Ya wanna get toasted or something?"  
  
Ranma-chan guessed this girl who'd rescued him was pretty powerful.  
Ranma cringed, hoping she wasn't a violent person like most girls in  
his life. Or some jerk like whomever decided to play with his life  
again and send him... wherever here was. What is it with people messing  
with his li... wait a sec. Ceipheed? That sounded... familiar.  
  
That was when one of the guys there started leering at Ranma due to her  
wet shirt.  
  
"What are you looking at???" Ranma-chan demanded, her face turning red  
from anger, losing her train of thought. She was consider blasting the  
pervert out of the inn when that lady, Luna as what others called her,  
came back and beat her to it.  
  
***  
  
Luna came back with the dry clothes when she heard some whistling at  
her guest who was in a wet shirt. Seeing the girl's red face... uh oh.  
  
"What are you looking at???"  
  
'Crap!'  
  
With her looking sort of and sounding just like Lina, the following was  
sort of understandable, as Luna decided to use her own, more  
controllable, magic in a task she'd rather not have someone -else- do.  
  
"Stop leering at my sister! Fireball!" she shouted, blasting the idiots  
out of the inn while thinking, 'I haven't set up any anti-Dragon Slave  
wards for Lina's visits yet dammit...'  
  
Ranma-chan simply widened her eyes as far as she could, not even  
noticing the girl having called her her sister, as she instead noticed  
Luna's act of magic used on the men, causing something to click in her  
mind. 'Ohhhhhhhhh shitttt!!!!! Better keep on her good side and not let  
her know about the curse. If she's anything like Akane or Lina with her  
temper... Well if she finds out about the curse, she'll most like  
mallet me like Akane did when she learned of it...or worse yet,  
fireball me.'  
  
Ranma-chan looked out of the inn at the twitching and slightly burned  
men. 'Yes...it'd be good for my health to keep it a secret...  
especially until I figure out how I ended up stuck -here- of all  
places!'  
  
She ignored the embarrassed face of her host as Luna wondered why she  
had confused the two people in favor of her own worry.  
  
  
  
  
  
Next time: Ranma tries to adjust to his new surroundings.  
  
  
***  
  
  
Omake Disclaimer:  
  
Gourry: *looks at the sheet of paper in his hand* What was I supposed  
to do again?  
  
Lina: *shouts from backstage* Read the message on the paper!  
  
RS: *also shouts from backstage* Yeah, we have to put a disclaimer so  
Merc or me don't get sued.  
  
Gourry: Oh, OK! *reads off the sheet* This message is written in the  
behalf of the writers to..  
  
Merc: *also backstage, stares at RS* Hey, why the hell are you here in  
Ranma's outfit?  
  
RS: Couldn't get the real Ranma since Akane put him in the hospital  
again with her cooking. I look just like him so I decided to take his  
place until he gets out of the hospital.  
  
Merc: *sweating* You sure you want to do this?  
  
RS: *suspicious* Why?  
  
Gourry: ...Ranma 1/2 series does not belong to us and neither do the  
characters. If anything, Ranma Saotome belongs to Ranko Tendo. The  
other characters belong to Rumik...  
  
Ranko: Yatta!  
  
Other Fiancees: WHAT?!?! *proceed to chase after RS unaware he's not  
the real Ranma*  
  
RS: Eh? What? *realizes the fiancees don't know he's not the real  
Ranma* Damn it! *starts running before he's torn apart* HELP!!!!  
  
Merc: Oh boy... *sweatdropping* He should have -known- I would have  
gone and done something like that...  
  
RS: *runs by Gourry taking the sheet of paper as he continues to run*  
Let me borrow that for a second!  
  
Gourry: *confused* Uhm... what do I do now?  
  
Merc: *sweating again* crap... uhm... go do the Insect Trick or  
something!  
  
Gourry: Insect trick?  
  
Merc: Uhm... look for some flies and try to split them in half with  
your sword!  
  
Gourry: Sure, I can do that! *looks at a fly near him and manages to  
split it in half with the Sword of Light just before RS passes by  
again*  
  
RS: *gives Gourry the paper back* Okay, you can read again! *continues  
running again*  
  
Gourry: *coughs into hand before continuing* Slayers also does not  
belong to us...  
  
Merc: *gives a sigh of relief* Good, everything is still okay.  
  
Gourry: ...and according to Merc, neither does the flatchested dragon  
spooker and bandit killer and enemy of all who lives. Same goes for the  
other Slayer characters or any other series used and their characte...  
  
Merc: *blinks* I said what? Oh crap...  
  
Lina: *blinks as well before getting angry* WHAT??? FIREBALL!!!  
  
Merc: *lies on the ground singed and burned* Ite... it-it hurts so  
much...  
  
RS: MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!  
  
Merc: Damn you RS! You'll pay for that! *trips RS when he runs by so  
the fiancees catch up*  
  
RS: Urk! *is getting beat up by the fiancees* ARGHHH!!! NOT THE FACE!!!  
  
*Everyone except Merc suddenly winces*  
  
RS: *squeaks* That... was worse *clutches his privates* Owie...  
  
Merc: MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! *now winces too, though for other reasons*  
Owie... laughing... hurts...  
  
Gourry: ...uhm... the end? Oh yeah, I hope you enjoyed the story!  
  
Luna: *stares at both authors and their conditions* I think the real  
Ranma's gonna have to get better soon if a next chapter's gonna  
happen...  
  
****  
  
OMAKE:  
  
Ranma passed his hand by his bleeding lip and smiled at Ryouga. The  
smile made Ryouga shudder. What was the bastard planning that he would  
smile like so?  
  
Ever so slowly, Ranma walked off towards the koi pond. Ryouga's eyes  
widened in fear as he realized, 'He's planning to turn me into P-chan  
and letting Akane loose on me! I can't let that happen!'  
  
With a burst of speed he rarely used with his bulky form, he rushed at  
the raven haired pigtailed boy and swiped his fist at his head. Ranma,  
however, ducked and flipped onto his hand, and twirling around on the  
hand, spin kicked the eternally lost boy back towards the house. That  
done, he continued to the koi pond and dunked himself in it.  
  
Ryouga groggily got back out of the house and into the yard as he  
stared at Ranma's twisting visage as he became a she. 'Just what are  
you planning Ranma, if you weren't going to reveal my secret?'  
  
Ranma, now a girl, stood upright in the pond and once more smiled  
nastily at Ryouga. She opened her lips and mouthed, "Now, you taste my  
new technique."  
  
Ryouga immediately placed himself into a defensive stand and redied  
himself for whatever Ranma planned. Though he failed to understand the  
reasoning for changing into a girl, Ryouga had by now learned the power  
of Ranma's manga techniques.  
  
"MERCURY STAR POWER, MAKE UP!" Ranma shouted, as the water from the  
pond began to arc upwards and twisted around her body and into armor  
fuku.  
  
Ryouga couldn't help it. He let down his defense and goggled as Ranma  
twirled around and then pointing at him as Ranma posed, shouted at him,  
"In the name of Mercury I shall punish you! Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"  
  
As the force of freezing water hit him and he screamed, Ryouga decided  
that Ranma had indeed planned to turn him into P-chan, but just wanted  
it to be more painful before Akane beat him up.  
  
As Ranma grinned and posed once more, letting her left hand show  
"victory!" over her opponent, Nabiki colored in embarrassment as Akane  
looked at her not having yet noticed the shape shifting of her friend.  
The reason? It seemed Akane wasn't the only one who'd found her reading  
her collection of Sailor Moon manga. 


End file.
